One Piano, Three Hands
by coworly
Summary: After the accident, Naruto was told that he would never be able to play the piano again. After all, who had heard of someone playing with only one hand? SasuNaru, AU. COMPLETE.


**A/N: **I got inspired by this idea after reading a yaoi manga. I'm rather excited about this story and I hope you like it as well! Please review afterwards. I would greatly appreciate that.

**Disclaimer: **I own none of the characters in this story and am making no money what so ever from writing this.

**--+--**

**One Piano, Three Hands**

**--+--**

As the police and ambulance sirens blared loudly in my ear, I stood there amidst the chaos, watching. My whole body was flooded with the feeling of shock and disbelief as I watched him get towed away on the stretchers. I felt as if I was in a movie – that surreal, suspended-from-reality feeling that I usually get when I watch something spectacular happen on the screen. A car chase ending in a huge explosion, a physically impossible fight scene… They just don't seem real when it's too amazing. Except this time, I couldn't turn my head away and say that it wasn't real. This was definitely real.

The ambulance doors were closing, snapping me back to reality. "N-Naruto," I managed to croak out. I forced my legs to work and clumsily, I stumbled forward towards the vehicle.

"Son, you're not allowed in this area." A police officer spoke, stepping in front of me and blocking my way. From behind him, I saw the ambulance start up and drive away. The officer placed a hand on my shoulder, "Are you a friend of the patient?"

Friend? No, we've never considered ourselves friends. Rivals, competition, that-idiot-that-I've-known-all-my-life. _Best_ friends.

"Which hospital are you taking him to?" I asked the officer. "I need to see him."

The officer pursed his lips and looked at my sympathetically. "Even if you go, son, you won't be able to see him. He's unconscious right now."

"He was screaming not too long ago." I muttered under my breath, pulling away from the man's touch.

Rolling his eyes, the officer looked at his watch impatiently. "The medics knocked him out with anaesthetics. They have to prep him for the ER. His hand was completely crushed and if they can't fix it, he's probably going to lose it completely. You won't be able to see him for a while."

That's when the entire situation hit me like that truck had hit Naruto. "… What?"

--+--

For as long as I can remember, Naruto had always been there for me. We practically grew up together and went to all the same schools. Although we rarely got along, we had one common interest.

I started piano first when I was four years old. Coming from a family of musicians, music was inevitably a big part of my life. I had piano lessons, violin lessons, and clarinet lessons nearly everyday. I hated the lessons, despite loving music.

It was Naruto who had discovered his love for the piano when he watched me play one day. Music hadn't been forced upon him like it had been with me. He had loved it from the very start.

Naruto had never taken a lesson in his life but was able to pick up any piece of music and play it back after listening to it a few times. He was able to master a Sonata that I had been working on for weeks in just a few days. That's when music became more than just lessons – it became a competition.

"Oi, Sasuke. You're entering the Konoha Music competition, right?" Naruto grinned widely at me as we walk home from school that day. "Let's enter in the same classes. I'll whoop your ass!"

That became the start of many, many head-on collisions.

It had been me who had gotten first place in several of the classes we entered in. Naruto may be musically talented, but he was sloppy and careless with his notes. He played by ear and his technical fingerings were still very rough. Naruto practised harder than ever after that day.

Despite being rivals, the two of us became well known in Konoha and in the neighbouring cities. We dominated in the competitions, performed with various well-known city orchestras, and gave solo performances in famous concert halls.

Our futures were bright.

When we graduated from high school, we both were recruited by the prestigious Konoha University of Music and Arts. It had been four years of intense training. Four years of sleepless nights spent in the practise rooms. Four years of stress and hard work.

Naruto and I were just months away from graduation.

--+--

I went to see Naruto in the hospital a few days after his surgery. The surgery had failed and the results were not pretty. I heard from his Aunt Tsunade that he would never be able to recover completely. I was stunned when I heard the news. How was he going to be able to play piano then?

Well, I already knew the answer to that question.

Naruto's room was a small single unit with pale green walls and beige curtains at the windows and around his bed. In the corner was a small washroom and along the opposite wall was a long padded bench that had drawers for clothes. His room was already filled with many cards, flowers, and balloons; Get Well Soon presents from many of Naruto's friends and admirers. Sunlight streamed through the glass and basked the bed in a warm glow. On the bed was Naruto, looking peaceful as he slept.

A crushed hand wasn't his only injury; he had several broken and fractured bones as well as a minor concussion, but those were all injuries that Naruto could heal from in no time.

As I approached his bed, I noticed that hand. The cast was thick and was wrapped around the entire limb, making his hand look more like a stump. Quietly, I reached out and stroked the plaster with the tips of my fingers. "What's going to happen now?" I whispered.

A groan escaped from Naruto's lips and my hand shot away as I watched the blond cautiously. Although I was tempted to leave, my legs remained stubbornly glued to the floor. I knew that I needed to be here right now – Naruto needed me, and I needed Naruto.

"T-Teme?" The idiot groaned as his blue eyes fluttered opened. He yawned widely and his left hand came up to cover his mouth. The weight from the plaster caused his hand to drop harshly onto his face and he yelped as he hit the side of his face that was covered in bandages. "Ow! Fuck!"

I snorted unsympathetically. "Huh, Usuratonkachi."

Naruto glared up at me and waved his plastered hand in my face. "Hey, don't laugh, Teme! Can't you be nice for once and show a little sympathy? How would you like it if a truck ran over _your_ hand and… and…" He trailed off as his eyes landed on the stump he had been flourishing around. "Oh."

And his hand fell back onto the bed.

I swallowed loudly as I stared at the defeated look on his face. "Naruto…" I began, unsure of what exactly I wanted to say. There wasn't anything I could do to help. Why was I here?

"Why are you here?" The blond croaked out, as if he had read my mind. His face had turned away from me and was now staring longingly outside.

"I wanted to tell you…" I took a deep breath as I steadied my voice. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. "… that I'm not going to graduate." Naruto didn't respond for a whole minute. Silently, I stewed on the spot as I waited for his response. When he finally did, I felt like I should have come prepared with a shield or a force field.

"What?" He spat out as he sat up slowly in bed. He glared fiercely at me. "Why the fucking hell not?"

Funny. I had practiced my speech in front of the mirror several dozen times before and not once had I choked up or stuttered.

"Are you _mocking_ me, right now, you bastard? What the hell is wrong with _you_ that is preventing you from graduating, like me?"

He threw his bed sheets aside with his good hand and began to stalk towards me. I held my hands out and tried to force him to stop although they wavered around his body as I was unsure of where he was injured and where it was safe to touch him. "Naruto, stop! Listen!" I shouted. "I just can't do it! The concert! The song – the song! _Our duet!_"

Naruto's fist stopped midway in the air before it fell uselessly to his side. "I don't see what your problem is, Uchiha." He spat out as he turned his back to me. "Just get another partner."

--+--

Once his fractures had healed, Naruto returned to school looking cheerful like usual. Although he could no longer play the piano, he still went to the academic classes diligently. However, it seemed as if only I could see the flicker of pain that passed through his eyes every time somebody offered their condolences for his hand.

Several people approached me in the following weeks about becoming my new partner for the duet Naruto and I was supposed to play. Of course, I refused them all, hating how they were treating Naruto's accident like some act of providence so that they could play with me. Kakashi-sensei tried to force me to choose _somebody_ but I remained stubborn, much to the annoyance of Naruto.

"What is your problem, Teme?" He asked me one day after I had rejected the 23rd offer of the week. "It's not as if you can play this song by yourself!" I crossed my arms, but refused to look at him. Naruto growled in frustration. "Sasuke!"

Gritting my teeth, I whirled around to face him. "I don't want to play anymore!" I shouted. "There's no more point, just leave me alone!"

Naruto gaped at me in disbelief. "You're… going to quit?" He asked in a quiet and pained voice. "_Why?_"

I stared at him desperately; I couldn't tell him the reason. It was ridiculous and he would just think I was being stupid. How could I tell him? So instead, I just turned around again and began to walk away.

"Sasuke, tell me what's wrong." Naruto pleaded, his good hand grabbing onto my elbow and holding me still. "You can't quit… you have everything laid out in front of you. You're _amazing._ And…" He laughed here, "Well, now your number one rival's out of the picture so it's smooth sailing from now—"

"No, it's not, Naruto!" I cried, ripping myself from his grip and spinning around to glare furiously at him. The blond look a taken back at the tears forming in the corner of my eyes; he had never ever seen me tear up before.

"Er… Sasuke…"

I slapped his outreached hand away. "It's not about knocking you out of the competition – it was _never_ about that! You were the reason I actually focused on music. You _gave_ me a reason to be serious about it and I enjoyed our competitiveness. Everything I did – doing all those competitions, those exams, those concerts, getting into this school – it was all for _you_. How can I play if you're not there playing alongside with me?" A tear streaked down my face and my body trembled as I just blurted out everything, much to my mortification. "What's my reason to play now?" I choked out.

--+--

I shook hands with Kakashi-sensei who let out a sad sigh. "Are you sure, Sasuke?" He asked, scratching his silver hair in disappointment. "It'll be a shame that we're going to be losing two musical geniuses then."

Mouth pulling into a thing taunt line, I gave him a low bow. "I'm really sorry, Sensei…" Straightening up, I shouldered my bag and turned around to walk away.

The thing that I liked about Kakashi-sensei was that he didn't pry into other people's business. He simply accepted my withdrawal from the school without any more questions and pleas for me to reconsider. "Ah, is it because of Naruto-kun?" I froze mid-step. Of course, Kakashi-sensei also had this knack for figuring out the reason anyway without asking.

After a moment's silence, I let out a defeated sigh. "Yes." I replied simply.

"Mah, mah… you two were pretty close after all…" Sensei drawled out. I frowned at that; every time Naruto and I stepped into his class, we would always end up arguing, which usually ended with Kakashi-sensei separating the two of us and giving us detention. "Speaking of which, I think I saw Naruto-kun in the practise rooms earlier. I heard he's been there all day."

I blinked slowly, taking in his words carefully. "Excuse me?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Kakashi-sensei's one visible eye crinkle in amusement. "You should probably see what he's up to. Try room 225."

Much to my surprise when I arrived at room 225, music was coming out from behind the door. What I could make out of the broken and scattered music was the melody while the bass occasionally had a note or two. As I stayed there in place, listening to Naruto play, I realized that the song was the duet that we were supposed to play. My shoulders sagged. Were you trying to guilt me into staying, Sensei?

As the music continued, I pushed past the door quietly, shutting it behind me. Letting my bag fall softly to the floor, I made my way over to the grand piano in the middle of the room. Naruto continued to play although I was pretty sure he knew I was in the room. His right hand played the complicated chords and passages of the piece we both knew so well, pausing whenever his left hand failed to make a sound. As I listened, I realized that his right hand was holding more notes that it used to, as Naruto had transposed part of left hand's part octaves higher so it could be played with his good hand.

Standing next to the keyboard, I watched as the right hand flew hectically over the black and white keys, amazed at how Naruto was still able to make out most of the song with just one hand. My eyes moved to his other hand, now out of the plaster and in a brace, the fingers bound up in white wrappings. Just by looking, I could already tell that pressing down on the keys took a lot of effort and caused a lot of pain.

"Naruto…" I murmured. When my eyes trailed to his face, I was a taken back by the tears streaming down his cheeks. "Naruto, stop!" I said in alarm. "If it hurts, don't force it!" Stubbornly, he continued to play, shifting more notes into the left hand. The music began to sound scattered again. "_Stop it!_" I shouted, grabbing his wrists. Naruto began to sob and gently, I pulled him close to my body, hugging him as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm losing the only thing I was ever good at." Naruto choked out as he cried into my shirt. "Music is my _life_ and it's being taken away from me. And now I'm losing you."

I frowned, not quite understanding what exactly he meant by that. "I'm not going anywhere, Dobe…" I muttered.

"No, you don't understand, Teme!" He cried hysterically. "You're going to leave me behind because I've lost the one thing that connected us together. There's no reason for you to put up with me anymore. I've lost my music…"

Looking up towards the ceiling, I let out a sad sigh. "Did you think I _only_ put up with you because we both played the piano?" I asked. Naruto didn't reply so I continued on, "You really are a dobe…" I murmured and Naruto flinched. "You're my reason for playing, Naruto. There's no way I can abandon you…"

I pried Naruto away from my shirt and forced him to look up at me. "Naruto, I love you. I will _never_ leave you." I promised. As his blue eyes widened in surprise, I leaned down and captured his lips in a soft, chaste kiss. When I pulled away, the blond continued to stare at me with wide eyes, speechless. Feeling rather exasperated, yet amused at the same time, I hugged him tightly.

Naruto remained silent, his head buried in my chest. He was still crying and I could feel his tears creating a large wet stain on my shirt. Finally, he broke the silence. "Sasuke…don't quit." The blond whispered, his voice muffled by my shirt. "I don't want you to quit because of me. I'll do surgeries, I'll do the physiotherapy. I'll heal, I promise, and then I can play beside you." His grip tightened.

I ran my hands through his soft blond hair, quietly stroking and petting. "I won't quit music." I promised. "But I refuse to graduate without you."

Naruto pulled away from me to stare anxiously up into my eyes. "Are you going to wait for me?"

I gave him a small smile. "Yes. I'll wait as long as you need."

--+--

Naruto's hand was never going to heal. The bones might eventually heal back into place, but the nerves and muscles were completely torn through when the truck's wheel had managed to drag Naruto a good two metres when it had gotten caught. No amount of surgery could fix what was broken beyond repair. Naruto knew that and had no choice but to accept his fate. However, he refused to give up piano.

"I still have my right hand." He said stoutly as he experimented on my piano. The two of us were trying to figure out what our plan for the future was going to be.

I pressed my lips together as I watched Naruto's hand fly over the keys, nimbly creating both melody and accompaniment within the two octave span. It was our duet piece. "Naruto, move down two octaves." I said as I joined the blond on the bench. Naruto did so, continuing on with his part. Listening carefully to the music, I carefully began to join in with his part, contracting my notes to within a couple of octaves so as to not take over Naruto's side.

The piece was rough and horribly unbalanced but the gist of the duet was coming together.

The song drew to an end and the two of us sat quietly at the piano, reflecting. "Maybe… if you're with me, I can still play…" Naruto whispered, turning to look at me shyly.

My heart skipped a beat. "I think we can work something out." I smiled, running a hand through blond locks.

Gently, I kissed Naruto's forehead making the boy blush indignantly. "Okay, okay, I love you too. I get the point." He put off the grumbling face to flash me a radiant smile. "One Piano, Three Hands. How does that sound, Teme?"

I snickered, "Stupid, but I think I can work with that." Smirking, I silenced the squawks of indignation with a kiss.

--+--

The crowd roared and cheered loudly, filling the concert hall with their applause. Many people stood up, giving the two performers a standing ovation. Beaming with pride, Naruto stood beside the piano, his good hand clutching my own trembling hand. Together, he and I took a deep bow while the audience continued to cheer, the applause showing no signs of stopping. Several students from the younger grades walked onto the stage bearing two large bouquets of flowers. They presented them to us before scooting off the stage. Gripping the bouquets in our arms, Naruto and I bowed again before walking backstage together.

Inside, the murmuring of the crowd became muffled and it became easier to hear ourselves think. Our classmates dashed back and forth excitedly, congratulating each other for a job well done. It, indeed, had been an amazing concert.

"Sasuke, we did it!" Naruto said as he laid his bouquet on a chair and leapt over to pull me into a strong hug. I grunted as my balance was thrown off but quickly, I regained my footing and hugged him back.

"I'm so proud of you." I mumbled, blushing when Naruto planted a sloppy kiss on my lips.

"I seriously couldn't have done it without you." He said solemnly. "I can't believe it's over now…"

I frowned and reached forward to tweak his nose playfully. "What? Who says we're done here? We might get scouted tonight, you'd never know!"

The smile on Naruto's face faltered slightly, "Yeah, they'd be a fool not to scout you, but nobody would want me." Scowling, I pinched Naruto's nose harshly and he jerked back, yelping loudly in pain. "Oi, teme! What was th—"

"Stupid." I scolded. "We're going to be playing together from now on." The smile returned to Naruto's face. Grinning broadly, he tugged my head forward and pressed his lips firmly to mine.

It had been a long hard road and we had faced many hardships along the way, but I don't think Naruto and I could have figured out a better way for our University life to have ended. Naruto may have lost a hand, but he gained two in its place.

"Oi, love birds! Get out on stage – they're calling for your encore!"

Naruto and I sprang apart at the interruption, both of us blushing madly. "K-Kiba!" Naruto shouted as our classmate flashed us a wicked grin before disappearing behind the door. Although still looking slightly embarrassed, he turned back to me with an eager smile. "Come on, partner. Let's give the audience what they want!"

The two of us walked hand in hand back onto the stage.

--+--

**A/N: **Reviews are greatly appreciated!


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